Report: Yahoo's CEO ready for a Microsoft deal

Yahoo's CEO said Wednesday she was open to discussing a Microsoft acquisition, provided the deal were sweet.

During an onstage interview at the All Things D conference in Carlsbad, California, Carol Bartz said she'd consider the right offer from Microsoft. "If there's boatloads of money and the right technology involved, we'd do a deal, sure," she was quoted as saying in the Wall Street Journal. "It's that simple."

Microsoft's February 2008 US$45 billion offer was priced at $31 per share and was later raised to $33. Yahoo shares [YHOO] closed Wednesday at $14.94.

Yahoo and Microsoft have both scrambled to keep pace with Google, which dominates the Internet search advertising market. Microsoft is expected to relaunch its Live Search product, reportedly under the new name Bing, at the conference on Thursday.

Bartz took over as Yahoo's chief executive after company founder Jerry Yang came under fire for his handling of Microsoft's attempted takeover.

When she was hired in January, analysts said it was unlikely that Bartz, formerly chairman and CEO of AutoDesk, would have taken the job had it meant simply selling off the company to Microsoft.

IDG News Service

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